Nuclear Criticality Safety Program Officer

Are you looking for a role where your technical expertise directly contributes to safety and regulatory excellence? Can you see yourself providing critical oversight to ensure operations with fissionable material are conducted safely and in compliance with requirements? Does the idea of analyzing complex systems to prevent nuclear criticality events motivate you? If you answered yes, then the Nuclear Criticality Safety Program Officer role may be the opportunity for you! Apply today!

What will you be doing!

• Maintaining subject-matter expertise in nuclear criticality safety regulatory and CNL program requirements, ensuring their effective application through a robust and compliant Nuclear Criticality Safety Program.
• Maintaining current knowledge of applicable nuclear criticality safety regulatory requirements, including Canadian Nuclear Safety Commision (CNSC) requirements, CNL interpretations and implementations, and other applicable regulations, standards, and guidance.
• Interpreting regulatory requirements and, when needed, translating them into clear, implementable requirements within CNL’s requirements framework.
• Supporting the development, maintenance, and continuous improvement of the Nuclear Criticality Safety Program to ensure ongoing regulatory compliance and effectiveness.
• Authoring and reviewing Nuclear Criticality Safety Program documentation to ensure ongoing regulatory compliance and effectiveness.
• Interfacing with CNSC staff, auditors, inspectors, and other internal or external oversight bodies, as required, to support reviews, inspections, assessments, and issue resolution.
• Providing authoritative nuclear criticality safety support and oversight to ensure the safe and compliant execution of operations with fissionable material.
• Providing ongoing oversight of operations with fissionable material to ensure nuclear criticality safety requirements are met and maintained.
• Providing ongoing support to personnel performing, supporting, supervising, and managing operations with fissionable material to ensure general and area-specific nuclear criticality safety requirements are clearly understood and correctly implemented.
• Identifying, documenting, and supporting the resolution of nuclear criticality safety issues, non-compliances, or adverse conditions, including providing technical input to corrective actions and verifying alignment with applicable requirements.
• Supporting operational planning, work authorization, and change management processes to ensure nuclear criticality safety requirements and risks are identified, evaluated, and controlled.
• Supporting the definition and communication of the scope, effort, and duration of required nuclear criticality safety involvement to ensure expectations are clearly understood by affected stakeholders.
• Authoring, reviewing, and supporting the development of technical analyses, including but not limited to criticality safety analyses, demonstrating that specific operations with fissionable material remain subcritical under normal and credible abnormal conditions.
• Performing technical work in accordance with all applicable requirements, including relevant procedures, standards, and regulatory expectations.
• Collaborating with other nuclear criticality safety subject matter experts, internal customers, and other required technical disciplines to support the development of complete and defensible analyses.
• Performing technical analyses using methods appropriate to the scope and complexity of the work, including but not limited to computational analyses using validated codes (e.g., SCALE/KENO), and appropriately post-process, interpret, and document results.
• Producing clear, logical, and comprehensive documentation of the technical work that demonstrates compliance with all applicable requirements.
• Supporting and/or reviewing technical work performed by others to aid in development, providing technical guidance, and/or confirming technical accuracy and alignment with applicable requirements.
• Supporting the assessment of Nuclear Criticality Safety Program implementation and performance, and contributing to the identification and implementation of continuous improvement opportunities.
• Supporting and participating in internal and external reviews, assessments, audits, and inspections related to Nuclear Criticality Safety Program implementation.
• Leading or supporting assessments evaluating the Nuclear Criticality Safety Program against applicable regulatory requirements and CNL expectations.
• Identifying, documenting, and communicating gaps, weaknesses, or improvement opportunities in Nuclear Criticality Safety Program implementation.
• Providing regulatory and/or technical input to the development and implementation of corrective actions related to nuclear criticality safety findings, issues, or events.
• Leading or supporting the incorporation of operating experience, lessons learned, and assessment results into improvements to Nuclear Criticality Safety Program elements, guidance, and technical approaches.
• Promoting nuclear criticality safety competency, awareness, and effective implementation through training, communication, and technical engagement.
• Developing, delivering, and maintaining nuclear criticality safety training, including defining learning objectives, preparing training materials, delivering training, evaluating trainee performance (e.g., examinations or practical assessments), and updating content as requirements or operations change.
• Communicating nuclear criticality safety requirements, limits, and controls to ensure they are clearly understood and correctly implemented by personnel involved in operations with fissionable material.
• Preparing and delivering technical briefings, presentations, and other communications to support understanding of relevant information, including but not limited to nuclear criticality safety principles, program expectations, and/or complex technical issues requiring significant effort/support.
• Providing guidance and knowledge transfer to nuclear criticality safety personnel and operations personnel to support consistent application of nuclear criticality safety requirements.
• Supporting a strong nuclear safety culture by encouraging conservative decision-making, a questioning attitude, and timely identification and communication of nuclear criticality safety concerns.
• Other duties as assigned by your manager.
  

What we are looking for:

• Education
  • Minimum, a Bachelor's (Honours) in Engineering or Science from a university of recognized standing. Degrees in Nuclear Engineering, Engineering Physics, or Physics are preferred.
  • Member of a provincial professional engineering association.
• Experience
  • Experience in Nuclear Criticality Safety is an asset.
  • Experience in the nuclear industry or another highly regulated environment, particularly in compliance or safety analysis, is an asset.
• Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
  • Skilled in communicating complex technical and regulatory information effectively to a range of audiences, including operations personnel, management, and regulators.
  • Analytical and problem-solving skills for complex regulatory and technical challenges, and the ability to apply sound professional judgement.
  • Exceptional technical writing skills; able to document technical and regulatory information and conclusions clearly and concisely.
  • Demonstrated skills in planning and organizing one’s own work to meet technical and regulatory requirements and schedule commitments.
  • Ability to work effectively in a highly regulated environment and collaborate within a multidisciplinary team.
  • Demonstrated proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
  • Knowledge of nuclear criticality safety, regulatory, and physics principles, and skill in applying them.
  • Knowledge of CNL’s management system requirements as they apply to the nuclear criticality safety program.
  • Knowledge of computational methods used in nuclear criticality safety, including the use, limitations, and interpretation of results from validated codes (e.g., SCALE/KENO or equivalent).
  • Knowledge of training principles as applied to nuclear safety topics, including development, delivery, and evaluation of training effectiveness.
• Security Clearance Eligibility Required
  • Level 2 Secret requires a minimum of 7 years of verifiable history in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and/or the United Kingdom. CNL implements security screening in accordance with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat's “Standard on Security Screening” and the “Policy on Government Security.”
    

Working Conditions:

• Working schedule: Five (5) days per week, seven and a half (7.5) hours per day for a thirty-seven and a half (37.5) hour work week.

• This position is part of the CRPEG Union and is governed by the terms and conditions outlined in the CRPEG Collective Agreement. As a member of this bargaining unit, you’ll benefit from clear expectations around hours of work, wages, vacation, and other conditions that support a fair and consistent working environment.

Why CNL?

Does the idea of working with a dynamic team across Canada to advance nuclear science and technology for a clean and secure world excite you? At CNL, we’re reinventing ourselves to be industry leaders—pioneering solutions to the problems that matter most.

From building the next generation of clean nuclear and hydrogen energy technologies, to developing targeted cancer treatments, to continuing our global leadership in environmental remediation—we are driven by impact, innovation, and purpose.

What We Offer: A Total Rewards Package

We believe in taking care of our people. Here’s what you can expect as part of our team:

• Paid time off: vacation, sick, personal, and floater days
• Benefits effective Day One – no waiting period
• Tuition support to help you keep learning and growing
• A defined-benefit pension plan or a defined-contribution pension plan, depending on your employee group, to support your long‑term financial security

Do Our Priorities Resonate with You?

• Delivering clean energy for today and tomorrow
• Restoring and protecting the environment
• Contributing to the health of Canadians

If so, you’ll feel right at home at CNL!

Location: Hybrid Onsite Eligible

CNL works with employees across our Canadian locations to enable remote work when possible. This role requires that the majority of time worked be at CNL’s Chalk River Laboratory site while also providing opportunities to work remotely, where possible, if desired by the employee.

Please note: This is a hybrid position, with a combination of remote work and onsite presence at our Chalk River Laboratory, Ontario.

Our Commitment to Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

At CNL, we are committed to fostering an environment that promotes equity, diversity, and inclusion. We celebrate and welcome employees, stakeholders, and partners of all backgrounds and identities. Click here to read all about it!

We are proud to uphold a workplace culture grounded in our Core Values:

• Respect
• Teamwork
• Accountability
• Safety
• Integrity
• Excellence

These values drive our employment practices and ensure meaningful career development opportunities and accommodations for all employees.

CNL is an equal opportunity employer. If you require accommodation during any phase of the hiring process, please let us know via [email protected]. All requests will be handled with confidentiality.

CNL operates on sites located on the traditional lands, waterways and ceded and unceded territories of Indigenous peoples. CNL recognizes and affirms all First Nations, Métis communities and Inuit in this land we now know as Canada. We acknowledge, respect and seek to better understand Indigenous history, rights and title on the lands where we work and develop projects. We honour and respect the importance of the relationship between Indigenous peoples and their lands, waters and territories.

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